Seamless Light Transfer

[null]

Still some bugs and kinks to iron out, but the basics are here

[zalo]

Sorry for being "That guy who's always first to post" but this looks great.

It's going to be interesting to see how the light, and shadows interact through portals.


But for actual gameplay, the effect looks a little over-the-top/too much and could distract
from the gameplay itself, and maybe it would be better if the light just projected onto the
object, rather than the world, except for when a puzzle demands it.

[Eriksrocks]

Must... have... latest... build...

[Aspartame]

the light won't be this jagged and stencily when the game comes out, right? Well, I'm sure yull make the light less bold, and more blurry. Also, the light coming through shouldn't be the shape of the portal, so i hope when you say bugs and kinks, you mean complete modification of it.

[zalo]

Oh! I have another idea of what could be done with this (you're probably hating me by now).

Could a lighting system like this work for AI seeing through portals as well?

Also, could what you did on the Soft Shadows work for Soft Lighting?

[ZomBuster]

the light won't be this jagged and stencily when the game comes out, right? Well, I'm sure yull make the light less bold, and more blurry. Also, the light coming through shouldn't be the shape of the portal, so i hope when you say bugs and kinks, you mean complete modification of it.

Eh what, when a point light shines trough a square portal/window it casts light in the same shape..

[Aspartame]

thats really not what i meant, i meant that the light comes out it is the same shape, but its just a lot more distorted, and there are certain shadows cast over it. It should be more blurry, and less jagged with more shading.

[zalo]

They are supposed to be distorted because of the angle the the light is coming at the portal from?
Maybe the video will clear it up for you:

(Cool, at 0:52 you can see the specular reflection of the three lights. Now that's detail.)

Also, I suggested soft edges on the light in an earlier post.

[null]

Wow I can't believe I forgot to post the video :O (updated OP)

[Eriksrocks]

One question I have watching the video... Can the camera go through portals in the editor? If it does (or if it can) that would be really helpful in assembling puzzles, etc.

[Svenstaro]

@Eriks: No, it can't but you are right. We'll think about it. Also, prepare: New build incoming.

[null]

Right now it can't, because the camera isn't physical. I suppose it would be a good idea, but it would pose problems since it would need to reorientate itself when it comes out of the portal, etc.

[Eriksrocks]

Right now it can't, because the camera isn't physical. I suppose it would be a good idea, but it would pose problems since it would need to reorientate itself when it comes out of the portal, etc.

Well I suppose it doesn't need to go through the portals like a physical object. Mainly I'm looking for something that would allow me to go from room to room via portals while editing.

Even something where you would right click on a portal > "Go to partner" and the camera then centers on the paired portal would work. That would at least allow you to jump between portals easily.

Although if you can make the camera go through the portals that would be awesome as well.

[ColeScheffler]

I can't wait to see what this will be like when it first gets released, I'm so excited, and I guess that "small" test level is bigger than I thought, it has a whole other room or two with a bunch of things in them!

[theVDude]

This looks SO NICE.

And the first release probably isn't going to be the test room, right?

[null]

And the first release probably isn't going to be the test room, right?

Of course not. Now that a lot of the tech stuff is done (or close to it), we're working on actual gameplay.

[theVDude]

I'm so excited.

I can't wait, this is just so great.

[FlyingHonda]

Wow, ever since you started this project, Ive been following it... Its made some GREAT progress! Im also glad you brought back the through-the-portal lighting, which the few portal-incorporated games lack on.

[Aklem]

so... how are the lights diffused only into the portal or am i wrong?
it looks like the position dosent matter (at one point of the video it looks like the light source is above the portal.)
sorry if im wrong...

also i updated my signature with the details.

[null]

so... how are the lights diffused only into the portal or am i wrong?
it looks like the position dosent matter (at one point of the video it looks like the light source is above the portal.)
sorry if im wrong...

also i updated my signature with the details.

What do you mean?

The 3 lights used in the videos are pointlights/omnilights (cast light in all directions) with a radius-of-influence of 25 meters. If there's a portal, the light will "pass through" that portal.

[Aklem]

what i mean is that on the video, it looks like the lights arnt casting any light anywhere else but through the portal.
but when you edit a property it casts light everywhere else

[zalo]

The reason it looks like no light is being cast anywhere else, is because he's using a Red, Green, and Blue Omni-light mixed together to make White light.

It would be easier to understand if the Omni-Lights had cast shadows so you could see where it was coming from.

[Eriksrocks]

New video! Self collision through Portals - but in the new engine!



Sorry that it's a bit choppy - my framerate drops significantly when portals come into play.

Also, @null - what do you use to encode your videos for upload to YouTube? 100MB+ AVI's from FRAPS aren't exactly upload friendly. Here I used Adobe Media Encoder CS4 to encode this into a WMV, but I wish it was higher quality. Just curious about what you use (Linux or Windows, although I'm running Windows most of the time). Thanks.

[Svenstaro]

Eriks, for Windows, you can use AutoGK to make it nice and small and Xvid. Nice video, gonna put it into the media section.

[null]

Also, @null - what do you use to encode your videos for upload to YouTube? 100MB+ AVI's from FRAPS aren't exactly upload friendly. Here I used Adobe Media Encoder CS4 to encode this into a WMV, but I wish it was higher quality. Just curious about what you use (Linux or Windows, although I'm running Windows most of the time). Thanks.

I use Fraps and then encoded it with Xvid via VirtualDub. Using level 4 or so, I can get most of my videos down to < 10MB. Of course, for higher quality, I use level 2 or even 1, then my videos usually end up about 50 MB.